MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

Hello to all our friends and family!
I realize that I have been neglectful of my blogging duties of late.  Time seems to run away from us these days.  We have had a wonderful holiday season thus far.  We started with a road trip to Utah to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Arnold clan.  Zoe had a lot of fun visiting with cousins and being showered with love and kisses from Grandma and Grandpa Arnold.  We came back to Texas ready for a wonderful 1st Christmas with Zoe!  We even got a real tree this year for the occasion, complete with about a loud of presents for Miss Zoe and one or two for Mom and Dad:-)
Zoe is now talking up a storm.  She'll have whole conversations to herself before mommy comes to get her from her crib in the morning and continues to be a very happy and sweet baby.  She has been the greatest Christmas present we've every had.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I will try to do better at updates in the future.

Zoe Update

Here's the day in the life of Zoe:
Mommy has been trying to get me to sleep until 6 before giving me my morning bottle.  I can't always wait until then but I try really hard.  I like to make my Mommy happy.  We are good friends already and I know she likes being home with me.  Most of the time I can make it until around 5.  I have a bottle and than I can usually convince Mommy to bring me back to bed with her.  I'm doing a great job of sleeping in my own crib most of the night now but I still like to snuggle with Mommy in her bed.  I think she likes it too.
I like to reach for toys and grab almost anything now.  When I drink my bottles, I always put my hand on Mommy's face and pat her cheek.  Some of my favorite things to do are to talk to Mommy and Daddy and listen to music.  Music helps me to feel better when I am sad.  Most of the time, I am a very happy girl though. 
I started to eat cereal a few weeks ago and I like it.  I always laugh and smile when I'm eating my food to show Mommy that I like it. It feels funny in my mouth and on my hands.  Sometimes I put my hands in my mouth while I'm eating to feel the cereal.  It's very squishy!
I am still not sure about naps.  I don't really have set times that I like to sleep during the day.  Mostly, I like to take cat naps.  I'm sort of settling into a schedule, but not quite yet.  Most days, I will take a small nap in the morning around 10 and another one in the afternoon around 3.  They usually only last about a half hour or so.  There's just too much to learn and see to take more time to nap!
I don't like to brag too much, but I must say that I've been doing a good job at taking my bottle at night and going to sleep around 9.  I like it when Mommy sits next to my crib for a few minutes before leaving the room.  Mommy always puts my fan on because I like to noise it makes while I sleep.  I also like my bear that makes a heart beat sound.  They help me relax.  I am a very light sleeper and it's sometimes hard for me to settle down and close my eyes.

 I like to play with Mommy and Daddy.  One of my favorite things is when Mommy and Daddy blow on my tummy.  It makes me giggle.  Mommy and Daddy love my big pretty smile.  It lights up my whole face!
I'm doing a great job holding my head up and can now sit up in a bumbo seat and almost in a high chair.  Mommy gives me a bath every other day.  I have a special baby tub that I use up on the bathroom counter and I love to look at myself in the mirror while Mommy washes me.  I'm getting so long, though, that I don't know if I'll be able to use the bath much longer.  I'll have to start using the big girl tub soon.
My furry doggie sister, Hope, is very protective of me.  She gets upset when Mommy and Daddy burp me sometimes.  She likes to protect me when people are at my house that she doesn't know.  She will sit right next to me and make sure that I am safe.
I LOVE to talk!  Sometimes I like to talk in church during sacrament meeting.  I am so happy to be alive and I want everyone to know it!
So far, I like being here and am a happy girl.  I am excited to learn lots of new things!

South Beach Dieting and Solid Foods

So, now that I am done breast feeding and back to a semi-normal schedule, I have decided to try the South Beach diet to loose the pregnancy belly along with the extra baggage I had before we got prego.  I had initially lost about 15 pounds when we found out we were having Zoe so I figure that if I can get into shape before we try to have another baby (which won't be for a little while) I'll be better off.  Steve wants to do it with me so we started last week.  Anyone who has done South Beach knows that the first phase of the program is pretty darn tough.  We are looking forward to next week when we can start adding the carbs back onto the menu.  I've even started dreaming about bagels...I know, I need some more excitement in my life:-)  I do think that the South Beach diet is one of the more reasonable diets out there right now.  I think it's a good one if you are looking for a diet program that will actually teach you to keep the weight off, not just loose it.  It's all about making those lifestyle changes that will help support healthy living for the long hull.
On another note, Zoe is already 4 months old and is starting to eat solids!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown.  We were intending on waiting to start her until she was 6 months but I felt she was ready for it and the doctor said to go ahead and start.  She has been chewing and gnawing on everything lately and has been very interested on watching us eat.  I bought the rice and oatmeal cereals last week and we've started on having it once a day.  The Pediatrician says she doesn't need it as an essential part of her diet yet but that we could experiment with it the next few months if she seemed ready.  So far, she is really liking the oatmeal.  Once she's been on that for a while, I'll start adding in some veggies.  I really want to make my own baby food.  I bought a book on different things you can do at home...we'll see how it goes. 

Working on our sleep schedule....round 1

So, up until this week, we've been kind of relaxed about Zoe's sleep schedule.  She's pretty much dozed off whenever she wanted to and we've had her sleeping in our bed with us.  It just felt natural and right and she loves being close to us.  Since breastfeeding didn't go too well, I also figured it was a chance for us to have our close time.  HOWEVER, now it's time to transition her back into her own bed.  Partly because I think she's ready to start on a more structured sleeping schedule and partly because she likes to hog the bed and the under eye bags that Steve and I were diligently working on when she was first born are starting to re-appear...lucky us:-)  Starting Monday, I've been trying to get her taking her two naps during the day.  A shortish one at around 11 and a longer one between 2 and 3 in the afternoon.  We've also tried to establish bedtime around 10.  Needless to say, it's been a fun week but I know that it will be worth it in the long run for her and for us both.  She is a happier baby when she gets the sleep she needs and, consequently, we're happier too:-)  She sure is growing fast though.  In the last few weeks, she's wanted to sit up more, loves to interact with people and watch their faces and talk to you.  So far, she hasn't really gotten too much into toys but she loves to read books.  I think she's going to be a pretty social little girl because her favorite things to do are to talk and watch people. 

Summer Trips 2010

We just got back from our LONG but FUN family trip to Utah and Lake Tahoe!  Zoe did a great job on the VERY long drives.  We went to stay at Grandpa and Grandma Arnold's house where Zoe got to meet them and all of her Aunts, Uncles and cousins who live in Utah.  We went from there to Lake Tahoe for the Glover family reunion.  It was a lot of fun to see so much family at once.  Zoe got held so much that she thinks that Mommy and Daddy need to hold her all the time now :-)  On another note, Zoe is 3 months old today!  I cannot believe how fast the time is going.  She is growing so big and has continued to be such a sweet tempered girl!  She makes us smile every day.  These are a few pictures from our trip.  Zoe was a HUGE hit with her little cousins...they all wanted to hold her and help feed her.  Looks like we'll have some good babysitters over the years:-)  She also loved hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.  We had a great time!

Zoe's blessing

Zoe was blessed by her daddy yesterday morning in church.  It was a very tender moment for us and she was so good as Steve, my dad, brother, and our bishop held her.  Here are some pictures of the day.  She wore the white dress that Great Grandma Glover crocheted for me and my sister when we were blessed.  She is such a blessing in our lives!

more pictures of Zoe

For those of you who want to see more pics of Zoe, Steve has posted all the one's we've taken so far at zoe.stevis.com

I love being a Mommy!

My sweet little Zoe has already been home for a week!  It's amazing how your life can change so much in so little time.  We have loved getting to know Zoe this week and I can't even imagine life without her now.
 So far, she seems to be a very calm little spirit.  She loves being cuddled and her favorite place to sleep is on Mommy or Daddy's chest.  We received a clean bill of health on Wednesday when we took her in.  We've had a bit of difficulty with breastfeeding and she was loosing weight at the hospital.  We're still working at the breastfeeding bit but with a little supplement, she's been able to gain back most of her weight and her pediatrician says she's looking fantastic!

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for everyone's love and congrats!  We've been blessed to have so many great family and friends to wish us well:-)  We hope you are all doing well!

It's A Girl!

Zoe Emma Arnold was born at 8:23 this morning. She came out weighing 9 pounds 13.3 ounces and is 21 inches long.

For more pictures, visit: http://stevis.com/zoe

Latest Pics!

Here are a couple of the sonogram pictures from today. For the record, she's showing as 10 pounds 8 ounces per the measurements on the sonogram machine.

Zoe at 37 wks.

Well, here's our little (or big, depending on how you look at it) watermelon.  She was very active this morning for our ultrasound but did a great job at showing us some good baby parts:-)  This is her profile.  She seems to enjoy sucking on her fists and gave us a few nice yawns while we were watching her.  Anyway, she is ready and rearing to come...already head down in Mommy's pelvis (Mommy could have told you that BEFORE the ultrasound though..haha) and measuring at a whopping 9lbs. 8 oz. already!!  Ugh.  The ultrasound tech told me that it is usually off by 1/2 lb. or so, so they are calling her at 9 lbs. even.

We're so excited for her to come...Mommy has been telling her the last few days that it's OK to come anytime she wants from here on out.  Of course, Mommy would be happy for sooner rather than later:-)  We'll see what happens!

Anniversary Dinner

We decided that we wanted fish for our Anniversary dinner, so we chose The Oceanaire Seafood Room (http://www.theoceanaire.com/locations/dallas). Overall, we had a great experience there. We loved all of the food we had, and they even gave us a free dessert because it was our anniversary (they chose it, we didn't). We'll definitely be going back for more.

It's been a great two years, and we look forward to many more...

Oh, and they even gave us a custom printed menu to commemorate the event:

Zoe's crib

Letter project

I am a total slacker:-)

Ok, it's only been, like, 12 weeks since we actually had the 21 week ultrasound and all...better late than never, right?!?! Anyway, here is our little Zoe Emma! I'm actually 33 weeks as I write this post. The weeks are flying by! We've settled in to our rental home here in Little Elm, TX. and the baby's room is pretty much set to go. Last weekend, we went to the medical center where we are having her for the child birth tour. It's the first time that it's really hit me...she's coming and soon! We are so excited:-) After I post this, I'll download some pics of her nursery. I think it turned out way cute...way more pink than I ever thought I'd decorate with but, hey, you gotta love the girlie thing while you can, right?!?!